Friday, March 02, 2007
Readings: Matthew 5:20-26
Lent is a time for reconciliation, a tuning—up time. We are to patch up our relationship with God and become close friends with him. We are told that Adam and Eve had a friendship with God which was broken by sin. That’s what sin does: it separates, divides, and divorces us from our creator and source of life, from God, our Best Friend.
But Jesus tells us we can’t really make up with God and become friends again until we make up with one another. If there is someone we are at odds with, someone from whom we are estranged, there is no way we can become united with God. Why? Because what we do to others we do to God. So when we are angry with someone, when we use abusive language towards another, when we hold anyone in contempt, even when we snub somebody, we are doing it to God and Christ. Therefore, we cannot make up with God. We cannot become reconciled with him.
That’s why Jesus says, “If you bring your gift to the altar and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift at the altar, go first to be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
That’s tough. It may seem like a “mission impossible” but we are to make it happen, with God’s help of course. If we don’t tune up our relationships with others, we will remain separated from God. I think this is one bit of advice from Christ that we often try to shove under the carpet, to hide away in a closet. To listen to it and put it into action can be like martyrdom. The question at the bottom of the line directed to each of us is simply this: “Are you going to use this Lent to become reconciled and closer to God — or aren’t you?”
Readings: Matthew 5:20-26
Lent is a time for reconciliation, a tuning—up time. We are to patch up our relationship with God and become close friends with him. We are told that Adam and Eve had a friendship with God which was broken by sin. That’s what sin does: it separates, divides, and divorces us from our creator and source of life, from God, our Best Friend.
But Jesus tells us we can’t really make up with God and become friends again until we make up with one another. If there is someone we are at odds with, someone from whom we are estranged, there is no way we can become united with God. Why? Because what we do to others we do to God. So when we are angry with someone, when we use abusive language towards another, when we hold anyone in contempt, even when we snub somebody, we are doing it to God and Christ. Therefore, we cannot make up with God. We cannot become reconciled with him.
That’s why Jesus says, “If you bring your gift to the altar and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift at the altar, go first to be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
That’s tough. It may seem like a “mission impossible” but we are to make it happen, with God’s help of course. If we don’t tune up our relationships with others, we will remain separated from God. I think this is one bit of advice from Christ that we often try to shove under the carpet, to hide away in a closet. To listen to it and put it into action can be like martyrdom. The question at the bottom of the line directed to each of us is simply this: “Are you going to use this Lent to become reconciled and closer to God — or aren’t you?”
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